


Short Circuit

by Joseph_Nightjar



Category: inFAMOUS (Video Games), inFAMOUS: Second Son
Genre: Alternative Ending of Infamous 2, M/M, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-10 15:44:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3295883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joseph_Nightjar/pseuds/Joseph_Nightjar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After all that happened, Cole had decided to found his own business, working as an Electrician in Seattle now instead of saving the world. As he meets Delsin for the first time, he doesn't really like him, nevertheless he decides to fix his broken tablet for free, because he hasn't been too nice to him. Eventually they started talking to each other and Cole has to admit that he was wrong about the younger Conduit...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Charge

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!!  
> So, I started playing InFAMOUS 2 and I feel in love with Cole all over again and yeah... Then I came up with this.  
> I hope you enjoy reading this, probably this is gonna be a long story, but yeah... Maybe some of you like long stories as well ^^
> 
> Enjoy reading it!! <3

“Eugene, I really need your help.”, Delsin told his friend as he looked at his new tablet, not sure what he was doing wrong. The Conduit had never been that good with technology stuff, but now he felt quite stupid for not even being able to turn it on.

“What is it?”, the young Hacker asked while he was still gaming, not really focussing on what Delsin wanted him to do.

“Actually, I have problems turning it on. I tried to press the button, but it still doesn’t work. Screen’s still black, dunno why.”, the Conduit admitted and heard Eugene sighing besides him, not sure if he was actually willing to help him with that.

“Have you charged the battery? Maybe it is empty.”, the Hacker suggested, still trying to kill those demons, his eyes focused on the screen as if his life was depending on it.

“Yes of course, I checked twice, but it is not even loading when I connect the charger.”, Delsin explained, still not sure what he was doing wrong.

“Maybe it is just broken.”, Eugene replied, hissing at his game for almost getting killed. Actually he wasn’t even in the mood to talk, but Delsin was his best friend, so he just answered, even though he would have preferred not to. Not that he didn’t like talking to his friend, but when he was gaming, it was something different.

“Can you at least take a look at it?”, Delsin then asked with a pleading voice and Eugene just sighed as the last demon managed to kill him, putting away his controller and needed a moment to calm down again, before he turned over to Delsin with a pissed look in his face.

“If you insist…”, he replied and snatched away the tablet, as he saw Delsin’s apologizing expression and smiled at him again.

“I’m sorry, but I almost managed 58 enemy waves. That would have been my new personal record.”, he told Delsin as he looked at the tablet, trying to turn it on by himself, which still wasn’t working.

“Oh I didn’t know that. Sorry, I won’t interrupt you again.”, the Conduit promised and Eugene just stopped him with a wave of his hand.

“Never mind. I’m not mad. I can still try again later. And for your tablet… it is broken. As I said.”, Eugene told him and gave it back to Delsin.

“Can you fix it?”

“Do I look like Fix-it-Felix to you? I don’t have a magic golden hammer from my father, I am a Hacker, I can fulfil all your dreams and cause nightmares with a few clicks, but I have no idea how to repair broken hardware.”, Eugene sassed and shook his head as Delsin started laughing.

“Very poetic. So what should I do now?”, the Conduit asked and Eugene just shrugged, restarted his game and focused on his demons again.

“Dunno. Ask a technician.”, he replied and was already captured by his game again, before Delsin could ask him another question. If he still had the receipt, he would just go back to the store and exchange it, but as always he had thrown it away before he had even left the store. And now he probably had to pay even more to get it repaired. What a crappy day this was.

“Alright. I’ll just head to town and search for the next ‘technician’.”, Delsin told his friend and sighed as he got up and put his jacket back on.

“Can you get me some Mountain Dew on your way back?”, Eugene asked and Delsin nodded, ruffled through the Hacker’s hair and left the Dominion, where he spent more time that he spent back at home. Of course he went home every now and then, but most of the time he just slept on Eugene’s couch after they spent all night gaming together. They had never talked that much, but the Hacker was still Delsin’s best friend, for he knew he could always rely on him. Besides that, Eugene was kind and funny if they actually talked to each other.

On his way to the city, Delsin relinquished to use his powers to get there faster, for he really didn’t want all those people to start taking pictures again. Since he defeated Augustine, most of them knew his face anyway, but sometimes they didn’t notice him passing by as long as he walked the streets like a normal human being.

He thought to remember where the Electronics Store was, but nevertheless he needed almost an hour to walk there, got lost a few times on his way, but fortunately it was still open as he arrived.

As the Conduit entered the store, a strange man with sunglasses, well-worn clothes and a haircut like Elvis looked over to him and grinned like he just saw Santa in person. Delsin already knew this would be an exhausting conversation, but nevertheless, he tried to remain calm and just greeted him friendly as he entered to store.

“Look who it is! Famous Delsin Rowe! To what do we owe the honor?”, he said and reached out his hand, but instead of clasping it, Delsin just pulled out his tablet and hand it over to him.

“Actually, I just wanted to get this fixed.”, he said, but the other man stuck to his guns and put his arm around Delsin’s back.

“Sure, we can fix that in no time! Just follow me!”, the strange man said and pulled Delsin with him, which made the Conduit feel quite inconvenient. He was used to people like this by now, people who just touched him and pulled him over to make pictures or just touched him for no reason at all, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Actually, he was never that kind of person who liked being touched by strangers at all, but most of the time there was no sense in telling them to stop.

“Ah, thank you. Yeah, uhm…”, Delsin mumbled as the guy finally let go of him to walk behind the counter, frantically knocking on the door a few times.

“Cole! Imagine who’s here! Delsin Rowe, man! Come over here right now!”, he said and Delsin just rolled his eyes, wasn’t actually in the mood for more company, but if he wanted to get his tablet fixed, he had to go through this.

After a few seconds, the door was opened and a tall man with short hair, grayish-blue eyes and a long scar in his face walked out, looking quite unimpressed at Delsin, before he turned to his friend, pulling up his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I can see that. And I’m sure he’s flattered by the way you greeted him.”, Cole said sarcastically and Delsin actually grinned at that comment, for he was just glad that the second guy didn’t started fangirling like the strange one did.

“Don’t you know who he is? He saved the city! He was the one who…”, the shorter one tried to explain, but Cole just interrupted him and shook his head.

“Yeah, we all know, Zeke. And I’m sure he also does. But I told you once and I will tell you again. Conduits are just humans. They don’t like being treated like an object.”, Cole told his friend who wanted to add something, but just left the shop to light a cigarette instead. He seemed to be pretty pissed about Cole’s words, but Delsin was actually thankful that he finally met someone who knew how he felt and defended him.

“Sorry. He’s strange sometimes, but he doesn’t wanna be mean or something. Just a little stupid.”, the technician explained and looked at the tablet that Zeke had put down on the counter, before he had walked outside.

“So, this needs to be fixed, yeah?”, he added and Delsin nodded, quite thankful that Cole just did his job instead of fangirling him like most the others did.

“Yes. I just bought it, but I can’t turn it on, nor can I load it…”, the Conduit explained and looked at Cole apologizing, already knew what he probably thought of him by now.

“Let me guess, you already threw away the receipt?”, the short-haired asked and Delsin just nodded, really felt stupid by now, although Cole probably didn’t wanna lead him to believe that.

“Mhm, I’m the same. But fortunately I can repair it myself afterwards.”, the technician joked and made Delsin laugh. Normally he wasn’t the kind of person who talked a lot in front of strangers, but he felt a little sorry about Zeke’s behavior and tried to make it up as good as he could. He knew how it felt to be the city’s ’hero’, and most of the time it actually sucked. He was lucky that no one really knew him here in Seattle, for they already had another Conduit who filled that position. And this Conduit happened to be Delsin. Cole was quite glad it wasn’t him anymore, but nevertheless he felt sorry for that kid. Probably he had liked it in the beginning, but by now it was surely just annoying.

After Cole looked at the tablet for a few seconds, he used his powers to check the electronics inside, instantly knowing what was wrong with it. He had never thought that he could use his powers and actually get paid for it eventually, but by now he was quite comfortable with what he was doing.

“Short Circuit. I could repair it, but probably it would be cheaper if you just bought a new one.”, he then told Delsin and the younger one blinked a few times, for he had no clue how Cole already knew that.

“You haven’t even unscrewed it! How can you know that?”, he then asked angrily, felt a little betrayed for he thought not even the electrician wanted to help him properly, but Cole just laughed and held up his hand, creating some beautiful lightnings between his fingers.

“Well, I don’t have to. I can feel it.”, he explained and made Delsin’s jaw drop. The younger Conduit needed a few moments to realize what he had just seen, but then he smiled at the short-haired and sighed.

“Should have known that from the moment you defended me. Damn, electricity… Wish I had that power, too.”, Delsin then said, didn’t want to ask the other Conduit directly for his powers, but Cole knew what he wanted and just shook his head.

“No. You have like, what? Five powers already? I think that’s more than enough. I don’t wanna fight another beast.”, he replied boldly and gave Delsin back his tablet.

“Four. I only have four powers. Smoke, Neon, Video and Concrete. What’s a beast?”, he asked as he took the tablet off Cole’s hands and looked at him skeptically, putting it down on the counter again.

“Nothing you wanna know. Believe me, Augustine was more than enough for this city. We don’t need another _something_ like she was. Or like we had back then in Empire City.”, the older Conduit explained and closed his eyes for a moment, tried to banish those pictures which were still etched deep inside his mind. Delsin wasn’t sure how to react but instead of asking about the beast or his powers, he pointed at the scar in Cole’s face instead.

“I thought Conduits couldn’t get scars?”, Delsin wanted to know then and gave him a questioning look, for he was used to his own scars healing after a few seconds, but the older Conduit just rolled his eyes and shook his head again.

“Many can’t. I can. My fast-healing powers work different from yours.”, he replied and looked up into Delsin’s dark eyes, not sure what he should think of that guy. Delsin was the national hero, but nevertheless, Cole thought he was a little strange.

“There are different kinds of healing powers?”, the younger one wanted to know then, somehow interested in Cole’s story by now. He knew people like him and also knew that many of them had a secret. Of course Delsin didn’t wanted to be nosy, but somehow he would really like to know more about that beast he mentioned and what happened back then in Empire city. But before he could asked those questions, he needed to at least have a small conversation with the electrician.

“I guess. Some Conduits just heal within a few seconds, others have to drain energy to do so. Why do you want to know?”, Cole asked him and squinted his eyes as he looked at the other Conduit.

“I just… wanted to make conversation.”, Delsin said and felt a little uncomfortable by now, for  he just acted nosy and intrusive towards the electrician, just like he hated people acting towards him.

“Yeah, because you really want my powers, I guess?”, Cole wanted to know then and saw Delsin blushing immediately after he asked that question. Maybe this wasn’t the nicest way to end this conversation, but on the other hand he really didn’t intend to raise some false hopes. No matter how hard Delsin tried, Cole would never give him his powers, just as a matter of principle.

“Actually I was just interested in hearing your story, but if you want to think of me as someone who’s only keen on leeching off your powers, do that. I never meant to be pushy.”, Delsin said and just turned around to leave the shop, for he really didn’t want to start a fight right now. The entire day had been nothing but a huge disappointment and Delsin just wanted to go home again. He would head to the next grocery store and buy Eugene some Mountain Dew, and then he would spent his evening gaming with his best friend, not leaving the his Dominion again.

“Wait!”, he then heard Cole’s voice behind him and rolled his eyes before he turned around. Actually he had no intention to talk to that guy again, but as he saw the older Conduit waving at him with his broken tablet, Delsin wished for the ground to open and just swallow him up. Could that day be any worse?

“I think you forgot something.”, Cole screamed after him and grinned at the younger Conduit, finding all this quite funny, even though he knew how Delsin probably felt by now.

“I can see that. It’s broken anyway. Just keep it and leave me in peace.”, Delsin replied and just wished for Cole to finally shut up, but of course he caught up with him before Delsin could reach the next neon sign to drain some power and get away from here.

“Listen, I didn’t want to offend you. I’ll fix that thing for you and you can get it tomorrow, okay? As an apology.”, Cole then said and reached out his hand, waiting for Delsin to grasp it. Actually, Delsin thought of just leaving, but on the other hand he really didn’t want to buy a new tablet, when that guy just offered him to fix it for free.

“Alright.”, he finally said and shook Cole’s hand, looking down at the tattoos on his arms. Some of them looked quite strange, but on the other hand, the one Delsin had himself also looked like a bunch of senseless lines to most of the people who knew him, so he wouldn’t judge the electrician for that.

After Delsin let go of Cole’s hand, he looked up and focussed his eyes again, still not sure what to think about them. He had seldomly seen someone with an eye color like this, not even sure if they were actually blue or grey, but nevertheless, they attracted his attention.

“If you won’t mind, I’ll hit the road now. I got some business to do.”, he said after the two men just stared at each other for a while.

“Sure. Come back tomorrow, I should by done by then.”, Cole replied and walked back to his shop, not really saying goodbye nor turning around to wave at the younger Conduit.

“Man, I really hate that guy.”, Delsin whispered to himself, gazing after him a few more seconds, before he turned around and headed to the grocery shop to finally get his friend some Mountain Dew.   


 

 

 


	2. Fragmentation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wuhu, second chap!! Enjoy~~  
> I guess it will take a while until they actually like each other but... It will happen. Eventually. I promise <3

The day was drawing to an end and Cole still wasn’t finished repairing that stupid tablet.

By now he regretted promising the Conduit he would do it for free, because it was a lot more work than he thought and he wouldn’t even get paid for it at all.

“Man, I really hate that guy.”, he told Zeke who was sitting beside him, watching some kind of trashy TV-show which didn’t really speak to Cole, but nevertheless he listened to it out of boredom. He always watched TV while he was working, at least if it wasn’t something too tricky to fix.

“Yeah, me too, bro. I mean just look at that guy! He really didn’t deserve Priscilla!”, Zeke replied, his eyes still focussed on the screen, actually believing that Cole would pay attention to the show he watched.

“I meant Delsin Rowe. He’s a total douche.”, Cole corrected his friend and went on fixing the electronics, not sure if he would be able to finish it until the the next day. Nevertheless he wanted to have it done before Delsin showed up again, not just because it was a massage to his ego, but also for he had no intention to see that Conduit ever again, except for tomorrow. The electrician was pissed that he had been stupid enough to repair that thing for him at no charge, for he actually didn’t even care what Delsin thought of him, but on the other hand he really didn’t want to have a fight with the most popular Conduit in Seattle.

“I don’t think so. He’s cool. I mean have you seen his powers, bro? That’s so much cooler than electricity. No hard feelings.”, Zeke replied and Cole just rolled his eyes. That was exactly what he needed right now. Of course he knew that his his friend didn’t really mean to be offensive, but sometimes he was so unbelievably stupid that he just got on Cole’s nerves.

“You know what? If you like him that much, why don’t you ask him to employ you? Maybe he will also tolerate your laziness and pay you for not working at all, like I do.”, the Electrician hissed and put down his tools, grabbed his coat and just wanted to leave, but Zeke caught up with him, grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“I really don’t know what’s your problem, bro, but you have still a lot of work to do. And what do you mean by lazy? I’m doing all your paperwork!”, Zeke told him and heard Cole sighing then. Maybe that had been a little unfair to say.

“Yeah, sorry. Just in a bad mood today.”, he said and took off his jacket again, went back to his workbench, looked wearily at that tablet and gave it the finger before he went on repairing it. Actually it wasn’t even Delsin’s fault, it was his own. If he hadn’t been so mean to the younger Conduit, he wouldn’t need to do that now. Of course that didn’t change the fact that he somehow didn’t like Delsin, but nevertheless he decided to stop complaining and just fix that thing before it was entirely dark outside.

Nevertheless, it took him another three hours to complete his task, before he was finally able to leave the shop. It was already dark outside and Zeke went home about an hour ago, leaving Cole alone with his work but that hadn’t been a problem for him. At least he had been able to change the TV channel and watch something he liked, instead of having to see that crap Zeke was always watching. Of course Zeke was his best friend, but when it came to things like that, they never really agreed. Cole preferred to watch action movies or documentaries, while Zeke always watched some kind of trashy reality shows.

On his way home, Cole thought about visiting some kind of pub instead, getting drunk maybe, but he wasn’t really in the mood for it. He lived in Seattle for quite some time now, nevertheless he didn’t really have any friends he could have called to go out with, and going alone was never that funny. Every now and then he had met a woman for a one-night-stand, which was actually the reason he was still single. Most of them had asked for a relationship after one night, also how many children he wanted or even worse questions, furthermore, the sex wasn’t very pleasing as well. No matter how good looking they had been, they had never really left an impression. Trish had been the exception, but she was long gone and Cole was still trying to forget her.

_Maybe she is the reason I can’t find someone else_ , he thought, but on the other hand he knew that wasn’t true. Cole would have loved to come home and have someone waiting for him besides his iguana, but at least that animal was uncomplicated and always happy, as long as he brought him something to eat. He never had to fight with him about not closing the toilet lid or the rotting food in the sink, even though he really had to throw that shit away before it started running on his own.

As he arrived home, he pulled off his shoes and jacket, leaving them carelessly discarded on the floor and walked into his living room, which was also really messy by now. He had thrown his dirty clothes on the couch together with his laptop and some old pizza boxes, old bottles were

lying everywhere on the floor, some old papers, bills and whatever that shit was, the food was still rotting in the sink and even on his iguana’s terrarium some junk was piling up and Cole just looked apologizing to his pet, who doesn’t seem to care, before he started to throw the things from his couch on his floor so he had enough room to sit down. He knew he really should clean up, but after fourteen hours of work, he really didn’t want to do that anymore.

_Tomorrow, for sure,_ he thought and opened his laptop, watching some series on the internet before he eventually dozed off.

 

***

 

After Delsin had bought everything they needed, he went back home to Eugene’s Dominion, finding him still sitting in front of the TV and gaming like back then when he left. He waited until his friend put down his controller and looked at him, before he said a single word, for he knew how Eugene hated it if someone interrupted him while he was gaming.

“Where have you been? I was already worried.”, the younger one asked him and waited for Delsin to sit down besides him.

“Got lost on my way and had a fight with the electrician, but I have your ‘Hacker Fuel’, also I bought some chips and, because I know what my little nerd likes, Oreos.”, he told Eugene and gave him the plastic bag with all that stuff inside. The younger Conduit smiled and got some Mountain Dew first, for he really felt dehydrated by now.

“Thanks, Del! You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. Oh wait, you’re the only friend I’ve ever had, but I wouldn’t want another.”, the Hacker said and opened the can, drinking the liquid greedily, as if he had been thirsty for days.

“Yeah, always the best friend, but never the beloved!”, he replied with a dramatic voice and started laughing before he sat down on the couch. Of course he wished to finally meet the man who would change his life, but on the other hand, being single had its advantages. He would just wait until he met someone he really liked, but until that happened, he could still enjoy his freedom.

“Sorry, Del. You know I’m not gay. So, what was that with the Electrician? What happened?.”, Eugene wanted to know while he took another sip of his Mountain Dew, before he opened the oreo box and started eating them.

“Man, I know that. You don’t have to tell me everytime I make a joke. And about that Electrician… What a dick, I tell you! He’s a Conduit with some kind of Electricity-Power. Whatever, he started telling me about some strange things in Empire City and something about a beast, and I just wanted to make conversation, and…”, Delsin started to tell his friend, but Eugene looked at him with disbelief for a second and interrupted him then.

“Wait a minute. Are you talking about what happened back then in Empire city with those very first Conduits and stuff? Man, it’s really hard to get information on that! I tried it once but actually gave up eventually. Not even I was able to hack those files!”, Eugene then said, suddenly really interested in what Delsin had to say. He stumbled over that case when he was searching for information about different Conduit-Powers, but never really found much about it. Someone tried to keep that a secret, and so far, they had done pretty good. And now Delsin seemed to have met someone who could actually know about what happened back then, a survivor. That was really interesting!

“I think now you’ve lost me. I guess so, but as I said, he didn’t really talk about that. I would have asked him about that beast, but before I could, he decided to sass on me…”, Delsin explained, now even more curious about what happened in Cole’s past. Actually he didn’t really want to see the Electrician again, but on the other hand he wanted to find out more about him, also about those first Conduit and what had happen in Empire City. If not even Eugene was able to find out, this must have been a big secret and definitely worth knowing.

“Oh okay. What the hell did he do?”, Eugene wanted to know then, still not sure what could have been so mean that Delsin was still pissed about it. Normally he didn’t give a crap about what people said, but that must have been something serious.

“Actually he said that I was only making conversation with him because I wanted his powers. Okay, I mentioned that it would be cool to have electricity, but that is no reason to ascribe something like that to me. Also he told me we don’t need another Augustine and that was the reason he won’t give me his powers… I realized that after I left, but nevertheless, I’m not like fucking Augustine. She was a goddamn bitch!”, he explained and Eugene slowly nodded then, biting his lip. In fact, that really hadn’t been nice at all and he could understand why Delsin was completely pissed about that comment.

“And you still let him fix your tablet?”, the Hacker wanted to know, not really sure why Delsin didn’t just left after the Electrician said something like this.

“Well, he fixes it for free, as an apology, I guess. Maybe he felt bad, I don’t know. Doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like him.”, the Conduit said and just shrugged, took one of the oreos and a sip from Eugene’s Mountain Dew. The Hacker wasn’t sure what to think of all that, but he knew that he was curious and wanted to know about what happened. He had been searching for this information for years and now there was actually a person who had survived that event.

“I know but… Can’t you just ask him tomorrow? Maybe invite him for a beer to thank him repairing your tablet for free? Not to become friends, but maybe you could make him drunk and he tells you what happened?”, Eugene suggested, but Delsin just grunted, didn’t even think about doing something like that. Of course he was curious as well, but there was no chance he would actually do something like that.

“I would rather rip off both my arms and eat them for breakfast than going out for a drink with this guy. If you wanna know so badly, just go there and ask him yourself.”, he replied and took another oreo before he grabbed a bag of chips and started eating them instead.

“Yeah, sure. Because I like leaving the flat so much. No information for me, then.”, the Hacker said sarcastically and got up to change the game.

“How do you feel about Portal 2? Haven’t played the Co-Op in a while.”, Eugene asked his friend, changing the topic before they ended up fighting about something that wasn’t really worth it. He could perfectly understand why Delsin didn’t want to talk to that guy again and didn’t want to push him. Of course it would have been interesting to know, but if there was no other way, he just had to improve his hacking skills a little. Actually he hadn’t tried finding out something about Empire City in years, maybe it was easier by now, maybe someone already figured out how to evade their firewall.

“Sure. But I wanna be Orange!”, Delsin replied, already forgetting about his anger now that he had something to take his mind of things.

“P-Body. His name is P-Body, not Orange. Orange is not even a name!”, Eugene complained and Delsin just rolled his eyes. Sometimes his little Hacker could be a real Drama Queen, at least if it was about games.

“Seriously man, lighten up, would you?”


	3. Destruction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It always takes me so long, but I really hope the waiting is worth it!  
> Enjoy the new chapter :)

As Cole woke up the next morning, it was still dark outside. He had dreamt something strange, something about Sasha and Trish, but the longer he tried to think about it, the more it faded, leaving nothing behind but a feeling of uncomfortability. Cole tried to get up, but only managed to sit up at the edge of his bed. Looking into the concrete-gray and barely lit world outside, he started to wonder what else this day would bring. Especially after another nightmare, he felt quite melancholic and wasn’t sure if he even wanted to leave the flat, but staying at home wasn’t really an option for him, even though he wished he could just call in sick like other people.

Slowly he managed to get up entirely, stretched himself a little and walked over to his kitchen to get a glas of water. He felt dehydrated, which was probably because he again forgot to drink enough, but that was quite normal for him by now. Since he got his powers, water was more or less a sensitive topic. Drinking water was okay, at least as long as it didn’t touch too much of his skin, and if it did… well, he knew it wasn’t too pleasant.

After he emptied his cup, he just put it into the sink to the rest of his dishes and left the kitchen, for he still didn’t want to clean up, also he knew he should hurry a little if he wanted to be in time for his work. Of course, Delsin probably wouldn’t show up in the morning, but his stupid tablet hadn’t been the only thing Cole needed to repair. There was a lot of other stuff like broken cameras and laptops he needed to fix, and for those things he would actually get paid.

Cole walked over to his bedroom and undressed himself, left his clothes carelessly discarded on the floor together with most of the other dirty things and took a look in the mirror then. He liked his looks, found them quite attractive, especially his muscles and the small scars which were dispersed all over his body. Also he was pretty well-hung, which was probably the reason most of the ladies wanted to stay after they had spent the night with him. Of course, the Electrician wanted someone who wanted a relationship with him for his character and not for his looks, but at least this made it a little easier to meet a potential partner. _If_  he would ever be able to get involved with another person again. Probably he was just too picky to find someone, or he still wasn’t over Trish, he really didn’t know.

After staring at his mirror for a few minutes, thinking about all those irrelevant things, he just pulled a new shirt and jeans out of his wardrobe, together with some boxers and finally got dressed before he left his bedroom and started searching for his keys and mobile, like he did every morning.

_I’d be so fucked during an apocalypse_ , he thought and smiled at his thoughts, but it was actually just true, not because he wasn’t strong enough to kill, but for he would probably lose all his stuff and never find it again. Or the rotting food would kill him in his sleep, depending on how long he would need to finally clean it up.

_I really should do that as soon as I’m back home_ , he planned and this time he would actually keep it, for Cole really couldn’t go on like that any longer. In the last few weeks, he really had his fling, but it really was enough by now. Of course he had been working most of the time, but on the other hand he couldn’t always use that as an excuse for his laziness. Even the rooftop on which he and Zeke had lived together for a long time used to be tidier than his own flat, and Cole himself knew that this was just sad. But for now he tried not to think about that too much. This would probably be a long day again and he needed to focus on what he had to do instead of wondering about how to change his lifestyle.

As he arrived at his shop, the door was already unlocked and Zeke was waiting for him inside, smiling at him as the Electrician entered the room. As always, the TV was already running, showing one of those trashy shows his friend liked so much. Probably Cole would never get why Zeke was watching those, but on the other hand, he didn’t really care, as long as he still did his work while watching those.

“Morning, Cole! Feeling a little better today?”, the shorter man asked and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Yesterday he had actually wondered how long it had taken Cole to repair Delsin’s tablet, but for his friend looked actually quite awake, he figured it probably hadn’t been too long.

“Yeah, sure. Sorry for bitching around yesterday. Was in a bad mood.”, he apologized and walked over to his workshop to get his stuff done before the first customers came and brought him even more.

“No problem, bro. Everyone has his bad days, right?”, Zeke replied and focused on his TV show and the rest of his paper work again, which should actually have been done a few days ago, but as long as Cole didn’t tell him to hurry with that, he really saw no need in doing so. Who cared about old bills anyway? He would never really get that, but Cole insisted on keeping all that stuff anyway.

The time passed and Cole was quite good in time, almost done with all his work and just hoped that no new customers would pay him a visit today, for he just wanted to be home in time to finally start cleaning. Of course he would earn less money if there was nothing left to do for him, but on the other hand he had had so many orders during the last weeks, that he really felt no need to care about this.

Cole had almost forgotten about Delsin by now, focussed on that old mobile he had to repair, just as said Conduit entered the room. For a moment, the Electrician actually thought about just leaving that to Zeke, but he really didn’t want to look like a coward who just ran away from his problems, so he looked up and waved his hand quickly. Normally he would have never been so unapproachable towards a customer, but Delsin was the exception. He couldn’t even tell why he hated him so much, but repairing that stupid tablet without getting paid for it was probably enough.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

Awkward silence, hateful looks and the attempt to ignore each others looks. Probably this was the worst situation they both had ever found themselves into, but now they had to go through this quickly.

“Gimme a second, I will get your tablet. Wasn’t too easy, but I managed to repair it.”, Cole then said listless and walked over to the shelf where he kept the already repaired things. He reached out for Delsin’s tablet and brought it over to the Conduit, handing it over to him, not sure if he had to say something.

“Thanks for that. Makes us even, I guess?”, Delsin wanted to know then, still a little pissed about what the Electrician had said the day before, but on the other hand there was still the wish to make conversation with this man, for the Conduit was really curious about those things Cole had mentioned yesterday, even more since Eugene had told him that it was quite hard to get information about what had happened in Empire City.

“We’re even if you just leave now. You got your tablet, you don’t have to pay for it, so please just get out of my sight.”, the older Conduit said one could easily hear that he was still pissed about what happened the day before, but Delsin really didn’t get what was wrong with that guy. It hadn’t been his fault!

“Are you serious? I mean, I should be the one who has the right to be angry, not you. You more or less called me ‘Augustine’, and then you said I was only making conversation to drain your powers, which actually isn’t true, I was just interested, so would you please lighten up a little and tell me what’s your damn problem?”, Delsin wanted to know and tried to stay calm, which, in fact, wasn’t easy. Just the disgusted look in Cole’s eyes made him angry and he really wasn’t in the mood for that shit. He had thought about him for a long time yesterday and just wanted to know why exactly he acted like a piece of shit after he had defended him from his fangirling friend.

“I just want you to go, that’s all. What I said yesterday was inappropriate and I made it up, but that doesn’t change my mind. No one should have the ability to drain so much power and you are probably one of them who exploits this ability.”, Cole explained calmly, but in his eyes was still anger and something else to see, something that Delsin knew just too well.

“Oh, I get it. I triggered something, didn’t I. Something that scared you.”, Delsin begun and looked at him compassionately, somehow wanted to know had happened to him, but Cole just grunted and shook his head, looked at him with even more anger in his eyes.

“Get out. Now.”, he just said and left the room without even waiting for Delsin to go away, went back to his workbench and tried to get that stupid Conduit out of his head. Actually, it was true what Delsin just said, but he would rather rip off both his arms than talking about what happened in his past to that Conduit.

As for Delsin, he was just confused about Cole’s reaction, looked over to Zeke and hoped he would give him an answer, but he just shrugged and sighed then, before he got up and walked over to the Conduit, looking at him apologizing.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have said that. I guess you stroke a nerve there.”, Zeke said and looked over to the door, thinking about following the Electrician to talk to him again, but on the other hand he had seldom seen him so angry.

“I meant no harm. I just… ah, forget it. I’m leaving.”, he then said and took his tablet with him, before he turned around and wanted to leave, but Zeke ran after him, grabbing his arm.

“Listen, Delsin. He’s not always like this, but back then in Empire City… You don’t wanna know what happened. I’m sorry. You better leave now.”, Zeke said and let go of him, but Delsin turned around once more, looked at the smaller man with disbelief and shook his head again.

“You know what? You can both kiss my ass. I don’t know what kind of freak show this is, but I really don’t wanna be a part of it any longer.”, he said and just left the shop, heading home to Eugene again, for he still had most of his stuff there. Whatever was wrong with the Electrician and his sidekick, he really had enough of that. Somehow he was still curious what had happen to Cole and what Delsin managed to trigger in him, but on the other hand that wasn’t really worth the effort. That man had a serious problem and Delsin wasn’t the one who was eager to find out about his psychological issues. Probably he would never see him again anyway, so why should he bother about something so insignificant. Cole had appeared interesting at the beginning, also his powers had, but by now Delsin had enough of whatever this had been.

_I guess this was one of the strangest encounters I’ve ever had_ , he thought as he slowly took his way back home, but he couldn’t really let go of what just happened back in that shop. There had been something in Cole’s eyes, not only fear, but also pain and disgust, and he wondered what could have been so horrible that it was able to destroy a person like this. Maybe he seemed to be happy on the outside, but Delsin knew that it was fake, that there was something going on inside this man that slowly fed from his memories, from his past until… until what? That was the question Delsin wasn’t able to answer. He had probably felt the same after Reggie had died, because the loss had been so overwhelming that it had taken him months to get half way over it. All that happened almost a year ago, but nevertheless he still dreamt about it, he still thought about his brother every day and coming home to his tribe and not finding him there was still so unreal that Delsin avoided going home if it wasn’t really necessary, which was probably the reason he lived with Eugene now.

The longer he thought about it, the more he wondered what was had happened to the Electrician and why he was like this by now, but… As long as it wasn’t for another technical problem, he would never have the chance to find out. Going back there wasn’t an option for him. 


End file.
